Name: Watercolour layer cake
Total time: 6300 s
Yield: 12
Ingredients: as needed butter; 1 pack sponge cake mix; 3 free-range egg; 100 gram unsalted butter; 100 millilitre milk; 2 tub Madagascar vanilla icing; as needed blue colouring gel; as needed green colouring gel; as needed yellow food colouring; as needed red colouring gel; 1 tub Percy Pig sprinkles; 75 gram white chocolate; 1 tub mini meringue

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas mark 4 and prepare the cake tins by greasing with butter (as needed) and lining with a circle or baking parchment in the bottom and strips around the sides to prevent sticking.

Step 2

Make up the sponge mix (1 pack) according to the packet instructions with free-range eggs (3) , unsalted butter (100 g) and milk (100 mL) . Divide equally into the cake tins and bake for approximately 30-35 minutes, until the cakes are golden, cooked through and a cake tester or cocktail stick comes out clean from the centre.

Step 3

Leave to cool for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack, remove the paper and let cool completely.

Step 4

If your sponges have a little bump from where they have risen, trim this away with a cake leveller or bread knife before stacking and filling, to keep your cakes level. Using a cake turntable is really helpful to get this looking neat. If you don’t have one you can put your cake board on top of a dinner plate to spin the cake on. I like to put it on a tea towel to help me spin it around. You can also use a microwave plate.

Step 5

Place the bottom layer onto a piece of baking parchment larger than the cake and secure with a dab of frosting onto a plate or board, then add a little bit of frosting on top of the paper to keep the cake stuck in place once it’s chilled.

Step 6

Spread over a layer of icing (2 tubs) right to the edges of the sponge.

Step 7

Top with a second layer of sponge, making sure it’s in line with the one below and repeat with a layer of icing in the same way. Make sure it looks straight, then press down gently to fix in place.

Step 8

Place the last layer on top, inverting it so the smooth and flat part is facing upwards, not the trimmed part (this keeps it neater and less crumbly). With a palette knife, generously spread icing all around the sides to fill in the gaps between the sponge layers (this allows you to hold the top of the cake still while you work around it). Use a gentle pressure against the side of the cake with the palette knife and use a back and forth spreading motion to spread the coating over the sides.

Step 9

Once the sides are covered, spread a thin even layer over the top.

Step 10

Once the cake is covered, clean the palette knife and go around the cake again to smooth off the excess icing. Any excess can be scraped off the knife into the tub and reapplied where needed. Chill in the fridge for around 30-40 minutes or to speed things up pop in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Step 11

To create the watercolour layer, mix the pastel colours first by putting 4 dollops of icing and a couple of teaspoons of each colour around the edge of a plate.

Step 12

Squeeze over a couple of drops of green colouring gel (as needed) , yellow food colouring (as needed) and blue colouring gel (as needed) and mix in with a cocktail stick or end of a little spoon. For the pink, add a few drops of red colouring gel (as needed) and a drop of blue and mix to create a dusky pink shade.

Step 13

Remove the cake from the fridge, add a little splodge of icing to the middle of a plate or cake stand and lift the cake onto the plate.

Step 14

Use a palette knife to load the rest of the uncoloured vanilla icing to the top of the cake.

Step 15

Use the knife at a 30-degree angle to spread the icing over the top, pushing the icing in a side-to-side motion using a firm pressure to spread over the top. The icing will start to push out over the edge and as this happens, you can change the angle of your knife to be vertical to neatly cover the edges.

Step 16

Now spread little flat dabs of colours all over the cake until it’s dotted with splodges of pastel icing.

Step 17

To get the watercolour effect, spread once more gently over the top and sides neatly to smear the colours together a little and give you a flat finish.

Step 18

Arrange the Percy sprinkles (1 tub) to the bottom section of the cake. Place in the fridge for about 15 minutes to chill.

Step 19

Heat the white chocolate (75 g) in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time until melted and lump free or melt in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Allow the chocolate to cool slightly.

Step 20

Use a piping bag or teaspoon to create a drip effect with the white chocolate over the top and sides of the cake.

Step 21

Drizzle the extra chocolate over the meringues (1 tub) and add Percy sprinkles. Arrange the meringues on top of the cake and serve.

Watercolour layer cake

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